Backend configuration

The backend reads its configuration from an env file, pointed to by the DATAFEEDER_CONFIG environment variable (defaults to <datadir>/datafeeder/datafeeder.env when unset), falling back to defaults defined in src/core/config.py. See apps/backend/datafeeder.env for a starting point.

Precedence

Settings are resolved by Settings.settings_customise_sources in src/core/config.py. For a given setting, the first source below that provides a value wins — sources further down are only used to fill in what's still unset:

1. geOrchestra default.properties (<datadir>/default.properties) — flat key=value file managed by ops/deployment tooling. Matched by field name or by the geOrchestra-style aliases noted in the table below (e.g. pgsqlHost for POSTGRES_DATAFEEDER_HOST). Highest priority: if it sets a value, nothing else can override it.
2. Environment variables (real process/container env, including the same aliases, e.g. POSTGRES_HOST).
3. This .env file (DATAFEEDER_CONFIG, or <datadir>/datafeeder/datafeeder.env if unset).
4. Init/keyword arguments passed directly to Settings(...) in Python (mainly used in tests).
5. Secret files (pydantic-settings file-based secrets, e.g. Docker/Kubernetes secrets). Lowest priority; not currently wired up (no secrets_dir configured), so this source has no effect today.

Once a value is resolved, ${VAR}-style references inside it are expanded against the process environment (expand_env_vars validator), and any unset POSTGRES_DATA_* setting falls back to its POSTGRES_DATAFEEDER_* counterpart.

Key settings

Setting	Purpose
PROJECT_NAME	Human readable name of the application
ENVIRONMENT	Deployment environment (local, staging, production); controls how strictly secrets are validated
BACKEND_INTERNAL_URL	Internal URL of the backend, as reachable by other services (server side)
DATA_PUBLIC_URL	Public base URL of the published data service (GeoServer), shown to users
DATAHUB_PUBLIC_URL	Public URL template of a dataset in Datahub, with {metadata_id} substituted
METADATA_PUBLIC_URL	Public base URL of the metadata catalog (GeoNetwork), shown to users
DATADIR_PATH	Path to the geOrchestra datadir used by the application
POSTGRES_DATAFEEDER_HOST/PORT/USER/PASSWORD/DB	Datafeeder's own database (the datafeeder schema: IntegrityLink records, schedules, etc.)
POSTGRES_DATA_HOST/PORT/USER/PASSWORD/DB	Database used for staging and final tables. Defaults to the same values as above if unset
SOURCE_DATABASES	JSON map of {name: SQLAlchemy URI} for the Database source type — see adding a source database
USE_ORG_SCHEMA	When true, final tables are written to a schema named after the org's short name instead of the shared data schema
GEOSERVER_INTERNAL_URL / GEOSERVER_USER / GEOSERVER_PASSWORD	GeoServer REST endpoint used for layer publication. URL MUST BE THROUGH THE GATEWAY in order to use authentication
GEONETWORK_INTERNAL_URL / GEONETWORK_USERNAME / GEONETWORK_PASSWORD	GeoNetwork endpoint used for metadata records URL MUST BE THROUGH THE GATEWAY in order to use authentication
GEONETWORK_XSRF_TOKEN	XSRF token sent to GeoNetwork (any UUID is accepted)
GN_SYNC_MODE	ORG or ROLE — which geOrchestra group flavor GeoNetwork groups are synced from
METADATA_DEFAULT_GROUP_NAME	Default GeoNetwork group name used when publishing metadata
CONSOLE_INTERNAL_URL	Internal URL of the geOrchestra console
METADATA_GROUPS_LABEL_FILTER_REGEX	Regex used to filter metadata groups shown in the authorization UI
DATA_GROUPS_LABEL_FILTER_REGEX	Regex used to filter data groups shown in the GeoServer authorization UI
AIRFLOW_INTERNAL_URL / AIRFLOW_USERNAME / AIRFLOW_PASSWORD	Airflow REST API used to trigger and monitor DAG runs
TASK_EXECUTOR	Task execution engine. Only AIRFLOW is supported today
ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_MINUTES	Lifetime of issued access tokens, in minutes
ENCRYPTION_KEY	Encrypts sensitive data at rest (e.g. HTTP Basic Auth credentials for FTP/URL sources)
SECRET_KEY	Signs internal auth tokens used between the backend and Airflow callbacks
PROJECTIONS	JSON list of {value, label} projections offered to users in the transformation step
TMP_UPLOAD_PATH	Local scratch directory used while a file upload is being staged
BACKEND_CORS_ORIGINS / FRONTEND_HOST	CORS configuration for the frontend origin(s)
RECURRENCE_EXECUTION_HOUR	Hour of day (0-23) at which daily/weekly/monthly/yearly recurring imports run

Secrets

SECRET_KEY, POSTGRES_DATAFEEDER_PASSWORD and ENCRYPTION_KEY must not be left at their default/placeholder value outside of local environment: the backend refuses to start otherwise.

Database migrations

The backend owns its schema through Alembic. On make run-backend, migrations are applied automatically (uv run alembic upgrade head) before starting the API server.